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The weather is lovely, and I've been feeling good lately. I decided to do the Lake Mingo trail today. I haven't done it since before my surgery, and until a couple of months ago I definitely wouldn't have been up to it. I'm a bit tired, and I'm glad I ran out of trail when I did, but I feel good.
Signs of spring
Apr. 5th, 2014 05:18 pmA short walk at Kickapoo (couple of miles) today -- don't really feel up to more. But three proper signs of spring:
Spring peepers
Comma butterflies
A brown thrasher singing away
A fine little walk.
Spring peepers
Comma butterflies
A brown thrasher singing away
A fine little walk.
Lazy Saturday
Jun. 9th, 2012 08:59 pmI didn't have anything else going on today, so I went over to Kennekuk for a bit. It was pretty warm today, but I found it tolerable, which I think means I'm starting to acclimate to summer. Good thing, because it is scheduled to be beastly hot tomorrow and I'm going to be at EFRC. Things are pretty dry -- no mud to worry about, and very few mosquitoes, which it's hard to complain about, but I'm worried that if we don't start getting rain, things will start shriveling up. I was in the lookout point and marshes area, and I had the place to myself. I saw a number of odonata, including the metallic looking green/blue damselflies, and a reasonable number of birds, including wood ducks, purple martins, bluebirds, and a towhee. I hadn't been in that area for a few months, and I was surprised to see that they're putting in a paved walkway to connect up the observation platforms that sprang up last year. Hundreds of thousands of dollars of concrete. I think they're doing as good a job as possible in terms of how much of the woods they're destroying to put all that in. I just hope that enough people benefit from visiting the site to justify the amount of money (which I assume is coming from my taxes, though I guess it could be from a private foundation) this is costing. It does look like it will be a fine site for environmental education, and it will be easily handicap accessible while it's new... how long the concrete will stay smooth and level in the real world remains to be seen.
Spring Adventure
Mar. 13th, 2012 12:51 pmSaturday, I went out to the Out and Back area of Kickapoo, and the frog ponds where the main trail first meets the haul road were simply amazing. So yesterday, I invited Jeremy, who enjoys nature and wildlife with a special interest in the old fashioned stuff, to come out with me and experience it. High points of the afternoon included a very tame muskrat, who sat 30 feet from us happily munching until we got tired of watching him and moved on, tons of salamanders (two sorts, presumably different species, many about 8" long with coral pink spots, a few a hair smaller that were plain muddy gray brown), a few interesting bugs (first butterflies of the season!, a couple of little spiders, several kinds of water bugs), a dead crayfish on the path, and OMG FROGS! I actually saw 3 types of frogs, tiny, medium sized, and large. I'm pretty sure I could identify 4 different songs and I think there were a couple more, but the prevalent songs were overwhelming enough it was hard to pick out the less common notes. I recorded a few seconds of audio with my phone, and the recording is better than I would have expected from a phone, but the file is a .3ga, and whatever that is, nothing on this computer recognizes that extension. If I can figure out how to convert it into a more widely understood format, I will post it and you can hear the Kickapoo frog symphony.
When we got back to the car, we had about an hour left before we needed to drive back to Champaign, so we went up the road to Heron Park. Highlights there were a pair of Mute Swans who were sleeping very close to the boardwalk, a Bald Eagle who flew down, gliding into the stiff wind so that he was almost perfectly motionless for some seconds, a glorious view through the binoculars, and a fairly close look at the pair of Sandhill Cranes. Also some Red-Winged Blackbirds (still not quite as many as I expect to set up territories in this prime habitat, 2 or 3 of the eponymous Great Blue Herons flying over, and many ducks (mostly too far away to see well and I don't know my ducks), some coots, and of course Canada Geese.
This early in the year, it is almost certain that winter will be back, but it was definitely spring yesterday (and today too).
When we got back to the car, we had about an hour left before we needed to drive back to Champaign, so we went up the road to Heron Park. Highlights there were a pair of Mute Swans who were sleeping very close to the boardwalk, a Bald Eagle who flew down, gliding into the stiff wind so that he was almost perfectly motionless for some seconds, a glorious view through the binoculars, and a fairly close look at the pair of Sandhill Cranes. Also some Red-Winged Blackbirds (still not quite as many as I expect to set up territories in this prime habitat, 2 or 3 of the eponymous Great Blue Herons flying over, and many ducks (mostly too far away to see well and I don't know my ducks), some coots, and of course Canada Geese.
This early in the year, it is almost certain that winter will be back, but it was definitely spring yesterday (and today too).
BUTTERFLIES!
Mar. 16th, 2010 09:05 pmI went to Kickapoo this afternoon. It was still a little cool, forecast high of 60°F, but the sun was out. I went backwards around the north Riverview loop, and it was warm enough by the little bridge to actually take my jacket off and catch a little bit of the sun in just my T-shirt. I got into the woods, along the rugged "hard" branch of the trail, and I thought I saw a couple of butterflies. I'd almost convinced myself it had just been a falling leaf and wishful thinking, and then there they were again -- a couple of small orange-brown butterflies in a mating dance. Seeing them really made me feel like I've actually lived through the winter.
I spent about 2.5 hours at the picnic table along the trail writing, and it felt quite a lot colder as the sun was setting and I was leaving.
I spent about 2.5 hours at the picnic table along the trail writing, and it felt quite a lot colder as the sun was setting and I was leaving.
Signs of spring at Kennekuk
Mar. 11th, 2010 07:19 pmToday I went over to the marshes at Kennekuk. Rain had been forecast, but only a few scattered drops materialized. There was no ice at all on the marshes, and only a little left on the sheltered west side of Lake Mingo when I climbed up the dam to have a look. There were bluebirds and a few sparrows, robins singing, and a chorus of frogs. I stopped at the shelter at the first marsh pond to write for a while. The geese were very noisy, but I did see a couple of mallards, a pair of wood ducks, and as the sun started to set, a small herd of deer came out and a couple of muskrats swam across the pond several times. There was a spider spidering about the picnic table. I saw a phoebe. Just as I was leaving, I thought I heard a nighthawk, but I couldn't see it, though I heard the call a couple more times as I looked around for it. It certainly seems too early for a nighthawk.
It's supposed to get colder and wetter for the next couple of days, but they aren't predicting temps below 40. By next week, at this rate, there will be green growing things.
Spring is starting to make it feel like life might be worth the trouble of living again.
It's supposed to get colder and wetter for the next couple of days, but they aren't predicting temps below 40. By next week, at this rate, there will be green growing things.
Spring is starting to make it feel like life might be worth the trouble of living again.
Spring is almost here
Mar. 9th, 2010 06:34 pmI spent about 3 hours walking at Kickapoo today, along the Riverview trail both north and south. The air temperature is starting to feel more like spring and all but the most stubborn traces of the snow are gone from the land, but the ponds are still almost completely ice covered. There were lots of noisy geese, but only a very few other birds. I almost stepped on what I think was a woodcock. There were 3 mergansers on the river at one point, and I heard a wood duck at another. I saw one big raptor just briefly, flying away down the river, it might have been an immature eagle. I know winter isn't really over; there will be more cold and there will probably be more snow before spring really arrives. But it is really good to be outside.
Seeing the trash that people leave around the park leaves me with dark thoughts about my fellow humans. I just can't comprehend the lack of consideration for others that it takes to throw trash on the ground. I feel a special contempt for the guy responsible for the used condom. Someone who would throw his condom on the ground in a state park really doesn't deserve to have any need for a condom.
Seeing the trash that people leave around the park leaves me with dark thoughts about my fellow humans. I just can't comprehend the lack of consideration for others that it takes to throw trash on the ground. I feel a special contempt for the guy responsible for the used condom. Someone who would throw his condom on the ground in a state park really doesn't deserve to have any need for a condom.
I will just briefly note that I went to Kickapoo for a while today. It was solidly above freezing this afternoon, for the first time in 2010, and the white stuff is starting to retreat. The mostly-frozen river was quite pretty. I walked a little way out onto a frozen pond, but I decided that I wasn't absolutely sure how thick the ice is and there wasn't any real payoff to go with the small but not quite zero risk. As I walked along the ridge in the middle of Emerald Pond, I realized that the big bird soaring overhead was an eagle. I think he was the only bird I actually saw.
An actual post
Sep. 10th, 2009 07:54 pmYeah, it's been a long time since I've posted anything except for EFRC updates. Yeah, it's because I'm depressed.
I went out to walk at Homer Lake. I haven't been there in a few weeks. At the start of my walk, parking at the north boat ramp, there was excessive mowing in the meadow area as the trail went south, which was upsetting, but it became horrifying as moved toward the pine grove and found that they'd torn out a whole lot of woody growth, down to the bare dirt with bits of wood scattered over it. Some of what they killed was just honeysuckle thickets, but they also took out a fair number of pine trees in the pine grove. They left a thin screen of honeysuckles to hide the scar from the path, but the trail of destruction went on for hundreds of yards.
I walked a long way, down around Collins Pond and then finishing the loop around the whole lake. It's dry enough that there's too little water flowing out the spillway to be hypnotizing. It was a good walk, without further destruction, but I didn't see much to pull me out of my own reverie. The birds were definitely taking the afternoon off.
I went out to walk at Homer Lake. I haven't been there in a few weeks. At the start of my walk, parking at the north boat ramp, there was excessive mowing in the meadow area as the trail went south, which was upsetting, but it became horrifying as moved toward the pine grove and found that they'd torn out a whole lot of woody growth, down to the bare dirt with bits of wood scattered over it. Some of what they killed was just honeysuckle thickets, but they also took out a fair number of pine trees in the pine grove. They left a thin screen of honeysuckles to hide the scar from the path, but the trail of destruction went on for hundreds of yards.
I walked a long way, down around Collins Pond and then finishing the loop around the whole lake. It's dry enough that there's too little water flowing out the spillway to be hypnotizing. It was a good walk, without further destruction, but I didn't see much to pull me out of my own reverie. The birds were definitely taking the afternoon off.
More spring
Mar. 17th, 2009 08:51 pmI went to Kickapoo this afternoon. I took the Out and Back to the haul road, out to the pond overlook for my sandwich, and then came directly back because it had gotten late. More butterflies: another mourning cloak and a bunch of the anglewings with green hair on their bodies. A dragonfly in one of the marshes. Fox sparrows, a Carolina wren, another flock of house finches, a few wood ducks. The most striking feature of the day was the frogs. In the marshy area along the haul road where the trail first meets it, there seemed to be at least half a dozen different frog calls, and they were collectively almost loud enough to make me want to cover my ears. I don't usually go ga-ga over frogs, but this was quite the amphibian symphony; I stayed by that pond for 20 minutes listening and trying to actually see any frogs. I actually saw one frog as it jumped away, and one other lump that I think was a frog but I wasn't quite sure. How hundreds of critters making that much noise can be so invisible is quite the mystery.
Butterfly!
Mar. 17th, 2009 09:57 amSpring is really coming. Lots of birds about even though I didn't get out for my morning walk until well after 9. I think I heard a meadowlark. I think I heard a Carolina wren. I was surrounded by a flock of house finches for a while. I saw one phoebe by the bridge. There were two yesterday and one was singing. Best of all, there was a lovely mourning cloak butterfly. I haven't seen any flowers; I don't know what he'll find to eat. But the first butterfly has been seen!
Kickapoo walk
Feb. 28th, 2009 05:30 pmIt wasn't a terribly inviting day, but it wasn't raining and it was cold enough that the muddy ground was partly frozen. I needed to get outside, so I went to Kickapoo. I parked at the start of the Out and Back, then went in by the Emerald Pond trail and up to my favorite lunch spot. The wind off the lake was much too brisk to sit in my usual spot, but I found a spot on the lee side of the hill that was fine. Then I came back along the Out and Back, for a nice total of about 5 miles.
I didn't see any signs of spring in the plants. There were a few birds around. A kingfisher, lots of noisy geese, tree sparrows, juncos, crows, a red-bellied woodpecker, a red-tail, and most pleasing to me, some bluebirds. Along the river on the Emerald Pond trail, beavers have been wreaking havoc. They've taken down several large trees, blocking the path in one place. The only furry critter I actually saw was a possum which actually looked rather cute.
I didn't see any signs of spring in the plants. There were a few birds around. A kingfisher, lots of noisy geese, tree sparrows, juncos, crows, a red-bellied woodpecker, a red-tail, and most pleasing to me, some bluebirds. Along the river on the Emerald Pond trail, beavers have been wreaking havoc. They've taken down several large trees, blocking the path in one place. The only furry critter I actually saw was a possum which actually looked rather cute.
A spiritual moment
Jan. 20th, 2009 12:26 pmI got out into the woods for a bit this morning, for the first time in a couple of weeks. It's still cold, but I was dressed for it. It was sunny, although a very light snow was falling, and beautiful if stark. I felt more joy of being alive than I have for many weeks, just marveling at the crisp air and the sunlight sparkling on the snow. I feel like I made a little bit of progress on my personal spiritual quest to understand the universe and the divine in it. As I came home, I heard the invocation before the inauguration, and I had the thought that while our human religions are pretty muddled, I feel there is some truth down there. There is love in the universe, and life is truly good.
Squish, squish
Dec. 27th, 2008 03:29 pmI've been pretty much cooped up indoors for a couple of weeks, between the lousy weather and being busy. I've been getting out for a one-mile walk a couple of times a day but not farther and not anywhere more interesting than around the immediate neighborhood (either mine or my mom's). It was finally warm today, though not dry, and I went over to Kickapoo. I went on the beginning of the out and back trail; it was very soggy. It was slightly drizzling, but it seemed like it was thinking about raining more, and I considered how much it would suck to get really wet when I was an hour away from my car, and I came back, and then walked around on the roads for another 40 minutes. Just as I got back to my car the mist worked its way up to actual rain, and as I was driving home, it turned into a serious downpour; I came back just in time.
I didn't see much of anything, but I got to breathe some fresh air. Even though it's still December, when it thaws it feels like the promise of spring.
I didn't see much of anything, but I got to breathe some fresh air. Even though it's still December, when it thaws it feels like the promise of spring.
Kickapoo Tuesday
Nov. 4th, 2008 07:44 pmI wanted to spend time outdoors today, so I headed over to Kickapoo (with a stop to vote on the way). I was late getting started, but I was walking along the Emerald Pond trail by 2. I was getting pretty hungry by the time I got to my favorite lunch spot, the pond at the end of the haul road. After I ate, I settled down with my pad and tried to work on my outline/notes for my NaNoWriMo novel. I was less prepared before November started than I'd had in mind, and I don't want to write beyond my outline. I was working comfortably when I looked up and realized the sun was really low. I looked at my watch and it was just after 4. It was only then that I realized that I'd had a brain fart about time; between daylight wasting time and the turning year, the sun sets a bit before *5*, not 6. So instead of getting to decide whether I would take a longer route back for variety, I had to hustle to get back to my car before sunset.
I took some pictures for you on the way out and a couple while I was at the pond.
I'd call this view iconic for the season.
( 11 more in here )
I took some pictures for you on the way out and a couple while I was at the pond.
I'd call this view iconic for the season.
( 11 more in here )
Crisp day at Kickapoo
Oct. 28th, 2008 08:44 pmWe had our coldest night yet this season Monday, well into the 20s. It was a lovely, though chilly, day today, but more than a little bittersweet. A few hardy flowers were left -- about the same as last week -- but the only representative of order Lepidoptera was an unassuming little brown moth. No butterflies at all. A fair number of crickety things were singing. On the plus side, though, no mosquitoes.
The fall colors are still going strong; the rain this weekend doesn't seem to have stripped the trees. I'm not sure if this is an unusually good year for fall colors or if I'm just noticing more than usual thanks to having the free time to get outside.
My plan for the day was to follow the Out and Back trail around and see if I could get my mental map straightened out. I fairly definitely worked out that even though it seems familiar, the horse trail south of the haul road (which connects to the trail I found last week over Emerald Pond) is not actually part of the loop I've walked before. I can't figure out why I'm so sure that I remember coming up that section of trail to return to the road; the trails just don't go that way.
Striking colors against a beautiful sky near the start of the Out and Back trail.
( click here for the rest of the day )
The fall colors are still going strong; the rain this weekend doesn't seem to have stripped the trees. I'm not sure if this is an unusually good year for fall colors or if I'm just noticing more than usual thanks to having the free time to get outside.
My plan for the day was to follow the Out and Back trail around and see if I could get my mental map straightened out. I fairly definitely worked out that even though it seems familiar, the horse trail south of the haul road (which connects to the trail I found last week over Emerald Pond) is not actually part of the loop I've walked before. I can't figure out why I'm so sure that I remember coming up that section of trail to return to the road; the trails just don't go that way.
Striking colors against a beautiful sky near the start of the Out and Back trail.
( click here for the rest of the day )
The Kickapoo Zone
Oct. 21st, 2008 08:48 pmI felt pretty tired and sore, so I planned on a short hike today at Kickapoo. I started on the Riverview trail that I've been on dozens of times, and after the first half mile I was sure I didn't want to go much farther. But when I got up to Emerald Pond, I decided to do a little exploring, and I discovered that the peninsula that sticks out into the pond, that I thought was just a little fishing spot, is the start of a path that goes all the way across the pond (over a culvert that I thought was discarded junk) and then follows the river for a surprisingly long way. I think it passes through the Twilight Zone, too. I found myself in an almost familiar area, but a mowed trail that should have formed a loop just ended at a small trail into the woods, which went along a very steep hillside (it would have been impassible if the trail were even slightly wet) and came out at the spur of the Out and Back trail that joins the river. The way it lined up, the almost-familiar area had to be new territory. I backtracked along the mowed path that just ended and ended up coming out on the haul road. Like some alternate universe, one end of the trail was well-known territory but the other end was just wrong. I followed the Out and Back trail back out, and then completed the Clear Lake loop to return to my car, feeling better than I had half a mile into the day. I suspect my legs are not going to be on speaking terms with me for a couple of days, but I seem to have come back to the universe I started in. I've got to find a map and see if I can make it make sense.
There are very few flowers left and I only saw a couple of butterflies all day. We haven't had an official freeze, but the frosty mornings have pretty much ended the season.
That's most of the story, now here are the pictures.
Fall colors from the parking lot at the start of the Riverview Trail.
( more inside )
There are very few flowers left and I only saw a couple of butterflies all day. We haven't had an official freeze, but the frosty mornings have pretty much ended the season.
That's most of the story, now here are the pictures.
Fall colors from the parking lot at the start of the Riverview Trail.
( more inside )
I headed to Kickapoo today, and I wanted to get to an area I haven't been to lately, around High Pond, or High Lake, depending on which sign you ask. It's a nice area, a little out of the way, but (I thought) didn't have a whole lot of trails. I discovered that there are more trails than I realized, allowing a circuit around the whole lake for a decent walk.
The view from the bridge over the Middlefork at the main entrance.
( click to join me on my expedition )
The view from the bridge over the Middlefork at the main entrance.
( click to join me on my expedition )
We sneer at your pathetic DEET!
Oct. 14th, 2008 08:05 pmI went to Homer Lake today, armed with my trusty 75-300 lens and a plan to hike around the lake. If I had stopped to listen before I left the house, I probably would have been able to hear the whine of the mosquito hordes from 10 miles away. Luckily for you, dear viewers, I neglected that step, and more surprisingly, I was able to drag my shriveled blood drained carcass out of the Salt Fork bottomlands to bring you these pictures.
We may have our first frost this weekend. Even if we don't, it will freeze soon, and the butterflies will be gone until next year, so today's post is dedicated to the insects I love. Not so much to those that love me. (Mmm, tastes like chicken!)
Some sort of fritillary.
( more pictures inside )
We may have our first frost this weekend. Even if we don't, it will freeze soon, and the butterflies will be gone until next year, so today's post is dedicated to the insects I love. Not so much to those that love me. (Mmm, tastes like chicken!)
Some sort of fritillary.
( more pictures inside )
